Oklahoma's Public Education:
The Foundation of the State's Future
Bio: Dr. Phyllis Moore Hudecki
Phyllis Hudecki, a native of Morris, Oklahoma, has more than 30 years of experience in many facets of education. She currently directs the work of OBEC, a large business-led coalition established in 2000. The coalition, supported by CEO's from 30 of the state's leading businesses, has developed an ambitious agenda to improve and strengthen education in Oklahoma. The agenda and work of OBEC is developed via consensus from business and education leaders. OBEC has partnered with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education on several initiatives aimed at systemic reform of education in Oklahoma. Much of the agenda has been focused on establishing an infrastructure to guide and inform education policy. This includes work on benchmarking state curriculum standards, reviewing the alignment of state tests, cross-walking of high school curriculum standards with ACT Standards of Transition, evaluating the state's education accountability policy, and serving as the state business partner for Oklahoma's participation in the American Diploma Project. OBEC partnered with Governor Brad Henry and legislative leaders to enact two major education policy reforms. In 2005-06 the enactment of the Achieving Classroom Excellence legislation, a landmark high school reform law, raised standards and increased the requirements to receive a high school diploma. During 2009 legislation creating the Education Quality and Accountability Board to review, approve and audit the testing and accountability programs established by the State Department of Education and also forming a P-20 Data Council, was based on an education accountability governance study commissioned by OBEC.
In 2009 Phyllis was appointed by the National Assessment Governing Board to chair the NAEP Business Policy Task Force, which is charged with formulating recommendations on ways to strengthen the relationship between NAEP and the business community. She has served and continues to serve on numerous national and state committees and boards.
Prior to assuming her role with OBEC in June, 2000, Phyllis spent nine years at the University of California-Berkeley, where she was associate director of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education. During this time she also served as a co-chair of a teaching standards development committee and a field consultant to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her career includes positions with the Iowa, Missouri and Massachusetts state departments of education and the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. She started her career as a teacher in Norwich, Connecticut, and gained experience in school administration as an assistant principal at a technical high school in Kansas City, Missouri.
She received her doctorate of education and baccalaureate in education from Oklahoma State University, an educational specialist degree in education administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a master's degree in education from the University of Connecticut.
In 2006 Hudecki was named one of Fifty Women Making a Difference in Oklahoma and in spring 2007 was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Oklahoma State University's College of Human Environmental Sciences.